The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has approved plans to demolish the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in West London reports sister publication Music Week. The venue’s future had been in doubt ever since Earls Court & Olympia owner Capital & Counties acquired a 100% stake in the property in 2010. Developers plan to create four 'villages' and a 'high street', spawning 7,500 high-end homes and thousands of permanent jobs. The build is expected to take 20 years to complete. The venue – located in Kensington and Chelsea – is known for hosting events such as The BRIT Awards (until they moved to the O2 Arena in 2011), the Olympic Games and concerts from the likes of Pink Floyd. Boris Johnson could have either opted to turn the scheme down or called for a public hearing when he met with his planning team on Wednesday. He said he was "acutely aware of the concerns" some residents had, according to the BBC. Local residents' groups had appealed for funds to help them prevent the possible demolition of the former PLASA Show host venue. He added: "I'm in no doubt that the development will provide a massive boost not just to this part of the capital, but to London's wider economy as well." Labour London Assembly Member Tom Copley said on Twitter: "Very disappointed but not at all surprised that the Mayor has approved demolition of Earls Court Exhibition Centre... An appalling decision." Earls Court attracts over 2.5m visitors, 30,000 exhibitors and over £1bn of revenue per year to London, as well as sustaining more than 1,000 jobs. It was built in September, 1937 and hosted events at the 1948 Summer Olympic Games. www.eco.co.uk

Currently due for demolition in 2013, Earls Court exhibition centre and concert venue is at the centre of a long-running bid to overturn extensive redevelopment plans for this historic area of Central London.

UK: The iconic London exhibition and event centre may form part of a major regeneration scheme following the Olympic Games, Earls Court & Olympia (EC&O) Venues' owner is considering the possibility of a 70-acre regeneration plan that would include the exhibition centre.

PLASA has announced next year's trade show will move to ExCeL as councillors decide whether or not to approve Earls Court area redevelopment plans, including a proposed demolition of the exhibition centre.

A TiMax2 SoundHub serves double duty at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Courtyard Theatre, providing signal distribution and speaker system management as well as delay-matrix processing to apply variable upstage/downstage vocal localisations and band imaging.